


Somewhere Out There

by Nostalgia_101



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 08:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10760757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nostalgia_101/pseuds/Nostalgia_101
Summary: Five times Jeff talked to 'himself' and the one time someone talked back. Set shortly after the season six finale.[Written for the 2017 Community Appreciation Week on Tumblr]





	Somewhere Out There

**01.**

Jeff sat in his car in the Greendale parking lot, staring up at the main building and wondering when the school had suddenly become so _intimidating_. Or, more to the point, he was wondering when he first began to feel lost in a place that used to feel like home.

“Morose Monday,” a voice teased from the passenger seat. “Hashtag implied for all social media coverage, obviously.”

Jeff allowed himself a smile, turning his head to find himself looking into a familiar pair of doe-eyes, currently gazing back at him with a hint of mischief-laced empathy. “I was going for more of a Melancholy Monday vibe, but either way I guess Garfield will be proud,” he replied, before giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head. “Annie Edison,” he exhaled slowly, earning a wry smile from his companion.

“You say it like we’re protagonists in act one of a rom-com that haven’t seen each other in a decade.” Annie grinned.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I say Annie?” he scoffed. “I meant Abed.” 

Annie chuckled, tilting her head back to rest on the seat. “I’ve only been gone for two weeks. You can’t possibly have missed me that much.”

“Missed you? Pfft, who said anything about missing you?” Jeff said, his mouth lifting up in the corners with a smirk. “Now, VHS tapes, there’s something I miss. Unironically saying ‘gnarly’. Oh, and carbs.”

“I guess those Skype calls and texts I received just appeared out of nowhere too, hmm?” Annie said, playfully raising an eyebrow.

“You got me there, Nancy Drew,” Jeff said, wagging a finger at her. “Looks like all that FBI learnin’ is already paying off.”

Annie rolled her eyes, fighting back a smile. “Please tell me _learnin’_ isn’t the summer school topic you’ll be _teachin’_ for the next eight weeks,” she said. “Although it could be a highly sought after degree at Greendale, you never know.”

“I wouldn’t put it past the Dean,” Jeff nodded, drumming his fingers on the black satchel resting on his lap. 

“Jeff… I don’t want this to sound too incredulous, but do you have _actual_ school supplies in your bag?” Annie asked curiously, releasing a small gasp when Jeff flipped open the bag to show her a binder with notebooks stacked inside. “That’s the _good stuff_ ,” she said in awe. “Oh my god, you went to Stationery World without me you sly bastard.”

Chuckling, Jeff reached into the bag and fumbled around. “At the risk of receiving more of your wrath – or hearing you let out the same moan of pleasure you did when Stationery World had that half off sale, which still delightfully haunts all my dreams FYI – I present to you…” 

Annie clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes shining with glee at the sight of Jeff triumphantly holding up her favorite brand of purple gel pen. “The super deluxe gel-tron 200 model,” Annie said in a muffled voice before lowering her hand. “I taught you well.”

“Yeah, and here’s hoping _I_ can remember how to teach well now I have my lucky pen with me,” Jeff said, carefully tucking the item back into his bag. “Although if Leonard shows up to my class I may just stab him with it.”

“Can I drop some wisdom on you?” Annie said kindly, offering him a warm smile when he nodded. “Well, first of all, murder is never the best option. _More on-the-job learnin’ from the FBI_ ,” she stage-whispered behind her hand.

“The lawyer in me, whilst finding Leonard extremely annoying, does agree with you,” Jeff replied with a smirk. “So please continue.”

“Second of all – you got this,” she implored.

Jeff felt his smile falter as he scrubbed the back of his neck. “I do huh? Because I didn’t really think I’d be back here so soon. But a summer of moping around wasn’t really all that appealing either.”

“Maybe it should have been hashtag Moping Monday?” Annie said quietly, peering at him with kind eyes as he huffed out a short humorless laugh. “Jeff?”

“Yeah?”

“ _You got this_ ,” she repeated more firmly.

With a deep sigh, Jeff squinted out the front window of his car at the wave of students entering the building. “… I got this,” he echoed, glancing back at the empty passenger seat. Shaking his head, Jeff unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door and stepped outside. “Hashtag Mirage Monday,” he muttered.

**02.**

“Don’t forget to hand in your week three assignments to me by Friday,” Jeff called out to the retreating figures of his students. “Via email will do if you’re planning on skipping that class to attend the _puppy parade_ ,” he added, lacing the end of his sentence with as much scorn as he could muster.

“Your mom’s an email!” a haggard voice called out amongst the din.

“Shut up, Leonard,” Jeff retorted, reclining back in his chair with his eyes closed, resting his feet on the desk. “That doesn’t even make any sense and your Animagus is a Shar Pei dog you wrinkly asshole.” 

The classroom soon became quiet. Jeff remained exactly where he was despite being done for the day, knowing that a bottle of whiskey and his Netflix queue were the only things waiting for him at home.

“Animagus reference. Random but effective. I approve.”

Jeff’s eyes snapped open to find Abed sitting cross-legged on a desk in the front row.

“I guess Annie finally got you into Harry Potter,” Abed continued, blinking at him. “I’d offer you my Inspector Spacetime DVDs but I don’t want to push my luck. Or have them damaged. You’re pretty terrible at taking care of things.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow. “… Should I be expecting a ‘no offense’ after that or..?”

Abed cocked his head to the side, his lips curving in a brief smile. “You tell me, this is your subconscious masquerading as Abed so am I more Fight Club guy or ‘insert other movie about imaginary people here’? Of course real me would remember another movie to include there, but imaginary me only has your limited pop culture brain to fuel itself.” He shot finger guns at Jeff. “No offense.”

“Imaginary Annie was nicer to me,” Jeff muttered.

“I’ll bet she was.”

“Shut up, Abed.” Jeff sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. “No, I don’t mean that. It’s good see you, buddy,” he admitted. “Well… imagine you… you know what I mean.”

Abed nodded. “You could always answer my Skype calls if you wanted to see real me. Or Skype me back. You haven’t done that in a while.”

Jeff flinched, chewing at his bottom lip. “Yeah I know,” he said guiltily. “I just assumed you’d be too busy in LA. Y’know, where exciting things actually happen as opposed to here where my only news to you would be, ‘Oh hey, Abed, I finally tried all the smoothie flavors in the cafeteria. Things are peachy-fucking-keen.”

“I never did get the chance to ask them to make a buttered noodle flavored one for me,” Abed said, shaking his head. “That one regret may just be my super villain origin story. Also, your terrible reference to super villains might just be my _real_ super villain origin story. Or _that_ reference about _that_ reference might just be…”

“I’m gonna stop me right there before my brain explodes,” Jeff said, sliding his legs off the desk to sit in his chair properly. “And also before someone walks in here and catches me talking to myself.”

Abed made a hum of agreement. “You could have a real Bruce Willis and kid from that ghost movie situation on your hands.” He paused, tapping the side of his head. “Missing reference from earlier. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.”

“God, I’m sorry, Abed.”

“For not knowing how to look up IMDB?”

“Well, yeah, _that_ , and for being a shitty friend,” Jeff admitted, resting his forearms on the desk. “I’ll call you soon, OK? You can fill me in on all your LA shenanigans and tell me about the latest terrible Marvel movie.”

Abed gave him a flicker of a smile. “Remember, Jeff, every time you refer to Chris Evans as ‘Craptain America’ you have to donate a dollar to my movie-making fund.”

“It’s money well spent,” Jeff grinned. “No offense.”

“Hasta la vista, Jeff.”

Jeff stared back at the unoccupied desk in front of him. “Sorry I don’t know more farewell catchphrases, buddy.”

**03.**

“You want another refill?”

Jeff glanced up from his phone to see Britta looking at him expectantly from the edge of the booth in the bar.

“Ooh, or I could make you one of the cocktails I’ve been practicing,” she continued with an eager smile. “Just don’t order anything where I have to cut up pieces of fruit. I nearly sliced my goddamn finger off the other day,” she said, shoving her bandaged middle finger in Jeff’s face. “I’m trying to learn the flute for my Natalie is Freezing tribute band. _That_ could’ve been embarrassing turning up with a missing digit.”

“Oh _that’s_ the embarrassing part in this situation?” Jeff drawled, laughing when Britta scowled at him. “As appealing as blood on the rocks sounds, I’m fine thanks.”

Britta shrugged. “Whatever, jag. Tell Annie I said hey,” she added, nodding towards his phone.

“I’m not messaging Annie,” Jeff scoffed.

“Surrrrre you’re not,” Britta smirked, giving him a wink as she made her way back to the bar.

Jeff made a face at her retreating figure like the mature five-year-old he was, finishing the rest of his casual-yet-witty-yet-whatevs Facebook message to Annie letting her know he had a few appointments on tomorrow so he couldn’t make their regular online chat.

“Well aren’t you the busy little bee with all of your fake meetings,” a voiced cooed next to his ear.

“Oh god, why have I conjured you in a bar of all places,” Jeff groaned, half-grimacing half-smiling as he dropped his head back with a thud against the leather cushioning of the booth. He turned to his left to see Shirley sitting next to him. “Hey stranger,” he said, unable to keep the affection out of his tone.

“Hello pumpkin,” Shirley beamed, keeping her purse nestled close to her side as she leaned in a bit closer to peer at Jeff’s phone. “Don’t forget to tell Annie about that meeting at one with Mr Fake Guy from Pretender and Sons Law Firm either.”

Jeff rolled his eyes and shoved his phone into his jacket pocket. “Isn’t excessive sarcasm one of the Ten Commandments you shouldn’t mess with or Jesus will strike you down?”

“If it was then you’d be dead about ninety times over already,” she retorted with a sweet smile, batting her eyelashes for good measure. 

“Fair call.”

Shirley hummed at him, giving his appearance a once-over. “Well you don’t look like something the cat’s dragged in.”

“Um, thank you?” Jeff replied with a frown.

“Although your beard could do with a trim,” she said, circling her finger in front of his face. “Might do the grey hairs sprouting through some good too.”

“Hey!” Jeff yelped, jerking his head away from her as she laughed. “I’ll have you know the distinguished look is the in thing in Hollywood right now.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, I have eyes,” Shirley replied, raising an amused eyebrow. “All I’m saying is that you’re looking semi-decent. So if you were looking like Oscar the Grouch’s cousin I could understand why you were giving Annie the brush-off in case she was worried you _weren’t_ doing so good.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “So what’s the real lowdown here?” 

Jeff picked up his near-empty glass of scotch and took a mouthful. “I’m not giving Annie the brush-off,” he murmured into the drink.

“Sorry, what’s that? I couldn’t hear you over all of the lies smothering baby Jesus,” Shirley replied, holding a hand behind her ear.

“I’m just giving her some space,” Jeff said in exasperation.

“Because…”

“Because last time I Facetimed her she was out with all her FBI buddies having a great time, and she looked so carefree and happy and…”

“Not like she was missing Greendale at all?” Shirley supplied.

Jeff buried his face in his hands. “I’m an asshole, I know. I should be happy that she’s happy but I just… miss her being happy with us.”

Shirley nodded in sympathy. “Plus there was a douche-y guy who looked like he owned a yacht and too many polo neck t-shirts in the group that we didn’t like the look of either.”

“No we did not. Let’s just assume he’s called Chad.”

“Ooh, let’s pretend Chad had an unfortunate boating accident in his pretentious yacht and met his maker in the ocean!” Shirley said gleefully, clapping her hands together.

“ _Shirley_ … That is a genius idea.”

“May I suggest another genius idea?” she asked, continuing when Jeff nodded. “How about you give me a call tomorrow instead and we can catch up? I’ve missed you, pumpkin.”

Jeff felt his heart clench at the hopeful look on Shirley’s face. “I’ve missed you too. Ugh, I’m the worst. Just add that to the list of me being an asshole.”

“Just call me, OK? Or write back to some of my emails,” she chided. “Those psalms and cute photos of animals I send you don’t just find themselves on Google Images you know. I put a lot of thought into those.”

“I did like the sloth,” Jeff conceded.

“Aww, that’s nice,” Shirley smiled, sliding her purse over her shoulder. “Make your next one a virgin mudslide if you do end up getting another drink,” she said, jutting her chin towards Jeff’s empty tumbler. “Trust me on this one, sweetie.”

“And _there’s_ why I’ve got you in the bar with me,” Jeff said in understanding, nodding to himself. “Thanks, ghost of Christmas AA meetings.”

Shirley clucked her tongue at him. “Speak to you soon, Tinkle Town.”

Jeff lifted his glass up to cheers the empty space next to him. “Right back at you, Big Cheddar.” 

**04.**

Jeff rubbed his eyes and stretched out his back from the hunched position he’d been sitting in at his kitchen table grading papers. After six weeks in his course a lot of his students were coming along nicely with their work. Then there were people like Hipster McGee (or “Scott” if you were feeling technical, which Jeff was not), who had written a paper so bad Jeff wanted to light it on fire and shove it up McGee’s hipster-y ass.

“Butt stuff. Dude, it’s a sign.”

Jeff couldn’t help but grin at the arrival of his latest visitor, slouched in the seat at the far end of the table just like their desk in the study room.

Troy grinned back at him. “Hey, man.”

“Well if it isn’t Captain Barnes. Tell me, did you end up finding Nemo?”

“I love that movie,” Troy sighed happily. “But no, smart guy, I’ve been too busy having cool adventures with LeVar Burton so you and your sarcasm can suck it.”

Jeff stood up to walk into the kitchen, plucking a postcard off the fridge he’d stuck on with a magnet. “Your time in Australia sounded pretty great,” said Jeff, waving the postcard in the air. “Except for that whole ‘nearly being stomped to death by an angry kangaroo’ thing. That part was emphatically not-great.”

“The cute animals want to murder you the most,” Troy replied, eyes wide. “I saw my life flash before my eyes, and, like, my Sims’ lives which was pretty weird,” he frowned. “But at least I had some dope-ass memories to think about before my liver was nearly clawed out.”

“What’s the other side like, Troy?” asked Jeff, playing with the edges of the postcard as he sat back down at the table.

Troy chuckled. “Jeff, I didn’t actually die.” He narrowed his eyes at him. “Or _did_ I? Is that why I’m feeling a breeze go through me right now?” His voice raised a few octaves. “Dude, am I a _ghost_?”

“No, I mean… what’s the other side of the world like?” Jeff said, hating just how wistful his voice had become. “What’s it like waking up each day knowing you’ll be having a new and exciting adventure?”

“It’s pretty amazing, not gonna lie,” Troy said. “You could do it too, if you wanted. But you’ve always known that, haven’t you?” he said with a wry smile.

Jeff ducked his head, staring at the pile of paperwork in front of him.

Troy folded his arms across his chest. “I just wrinkled your brain, didn’t I?” he said proudly.

“Technically I wrinkled my own brain,” Jeff pointed out.

“Come on, man, just let me have this.”

“OK.” Jeff glanced back up at Troy before sliding the postcard towards him on the table. “I want to get another one of these soon, you hear me? Mostly so I can mock you for actually still using the postal system for handwritten mail.”

“Dude, you still own an Atari console. People in 80s houses shouldn’t throw old people stones.”

Jeff snorted, sharing a smirk with Troy. “Safe travels, Captain,” he said, offering his friend a salute. “We miss having you around.”

There was a faint echo of, “ _You know I never cry, but_ …” in the room before it was just Jeff and his paperwork once more.

**05.**

The Greendale campus was close to empty after the second last day of summer school ended and Jeff found himself sitting out the front of the library on the concrete steps. He had his eyes closed as he lifted his face up towards the sun, relishing in the warmth of its rays and the warmth of the knowledge that he successfully refrained from murdering Leonard all summer.

“What’s a guy gotta do around here to get his hologram running again?”

“Speaking of people I’d like to murder if they weren’t already dead,” Jeff snarked, cracking one eye open to find Pierce sitting next to him on the step.

Pierce glowered at him. “I’m pretty sure that’s blasphemy, you overly-moisturized jackass.”

Jeff huffed a laugh through his nose, giving his full attention to the man who was still larger than life even in death – and hallucination. “Pierce, your company’s a treat as always.”

“Damn right it is,” Pierce blustered.

“And to answer your question, your hologram has been switched off for a while now because it was scaring the newer students,” said Jeff, his smirk fading slightly when he noticed the slump of Pierce’s shoulders. “If it makes you feel any better Annie and Britta protested it at the time.” Pierce raised an eyebrow at him. “OK, I may have tried to help keep the stupid hologram on too,” Jeff muttered, resting his arms over his knees and staring out at the empty school courtyard. “But only for Annie and Britta’s sake. And, y’know, as a cautionary tale.”

Pierce forced out a cough that distinctly sounded like ‘bullshit’, before offering Jeff an innocent smile. “You know why I decided to put the hologram there, Winger? Aside from the fact that I was court-ordered to make an apology for the harassment lawsuit of course.”

“I dunno, the word narcissism keeps flashing in my brain like a neon sign but that just doesn’t seem like your M.O.,” Jeff said dryly.

“No, dumbass, it was because I wanted some sort of legacy around here,” Pierce replied pointedly. “This crapheap was such a big part of my life, and I may have acted like I didn’t give a rats most of the time, but this place held some good moments for me when I didn’t think I had any good moments left to live out.” Pierce leaned in closer towards Jeff. “Are you getting my drift, Winger?”

“Loud and not-so-subtly clear, along with an overwhelming drift of Brut cologne,” Jeff grimaced, sniffing the air beside him. “Who knew hallucinations came with their own distinct scent.”

Pierce adjusted his glasses, peering intently at Jeff. “It’s OK that you’re here, Jeff,” he said with a shrug. “You’re making a difference in people’s lives even if you’ll only admit it to long-dead friends.”

Jeff swallowed roughly, flexing his jaw against the sudden onslaught of unwanted emotion. “Yeah, well… just as long as I get some of those good moments in other places too,” he said hoarsely, clearing his throat. “Variety. Spice of life. Etcetera.”

“That, my unevenly-fake-tanned friend, is entirely up to you,” said Pierce. He gazed around the campus. “So, daydreaming about us all, huh?” he said conversationally, turning back to wink at Jeff. “Any sexy ones about the ladies you want to share?” 

“Oh god, abort, abort,” Jeff groaned, closing his eyes and furiously shaking his head to clear away the evidence like an Etch A Sketch. He waited a moment before opening his eyes again; his relief at finding Pierce gone tinged with the smallest amount of nostalgia. “See you ‘round, you big, enigmatic weirdo.”

**+01.**

Jeff weaved his way through the throng of happy students congregating in the courtyard after their final exams were done, artfully dodging invites to an after party at Señor Kevin's and one, bizarrely, at Leonard’s fiancée’s retirement village (Jeff had so many questions, most of them varying on ‘…The fuck?!’). 

He stopped short when he finally reached his car in the parking lot, not only because someone had graffitied it with shaving foam as an end of school prank, but because there was currently a petite brunette woman sitting on the hood grinning at him.

“Annie?”

“Surprise!” she sang out, carefully leaping off the car and smoothing down the hem of her flowery summer dress. 

“That is definitely a word for it,” Jeff replied, wringing his hand around the strap of his satchel over his shoulder. “Here I thought the next step in my one-man play would be hanging out with a ball named Wilson, but I guess…” He froze when Annie’s solid mass collided into him, nearly knocking him over. “Wait… shit, you’re real?” he said in astonishment, still unmoving as Annie wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“Um, is there a scenario where I shouldn’t be?” Annie replied with a slight frown, tilting her head back so she could look at him. “Jeff are you OK?”

“What? I mean, yeah! Of course,” he replied, finally making his arms cooperate and return Annie’s hug. “That sentence was supposed to go, ‘you’re really here?’ but you kind of distracted me.”

Annie smiled at him, resting her chin on his chest as she glanced up through her lashes. “In a good way I hope?”

“Always. Even when you’re fishing for compliments,” he smirked, jolting with a laugh when she pinched the side of his stomach. “You do look great, Annie. The FBI agrees with you.”

“Aww, and I didn’t even send out bait for that one,” she teased. “You look good too you know. Getting through summer school without committing a murder really brings out a youthful glow.”

Jeff chuckled, running his hand across her back before letting her go. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but I thought you weren’t getting home until Tuesday?”

Annie shrugged one shoulder, gesturing for Jeff to follow her to a nearby bench to sit on. “The job wrapped up early so I thought I’d come back and surprise you guys.” She crinkled her nose. “Turns out I got a surprise too when I found out Britta made the apartment into a stray cat hotel,” she said, poking out her tongue in a ‘blech’ motion. “The whole place smells like cat pee.”

“Yeah, I haven’t been around there much,” Jeff admitted. “That and the fact that Britta’s dragged Frankie into her tribute band to play the drums. I was one shred of willpower away from picking up the triangle and joining them.”

“I would have paid good money to witness that,” Annie laughed, tilting her head at Jeff curiously when he couldn’t wipe the affectionate look off his face. “You’re staring at me like you still can’t believe it’s me,” she pretended to chide him, giving his leg a gentle nudge with her knee. “I’m here, I promise.”

“I know,” Jeff replied, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. He let his hand linger near her neck before slowly moving it away. “I’m glad.”

Annie’s eyes softened as she nodded at him, biting her bottom lip. “Me too.” They held one another’s gaze before they both ducked their heads, chuckling at their shared awkwardness.

“So, end of the internship huh?” Jeff smiled. “Did you hear anything more from them about what the future might hold?” he asked carefully, hoping his smile was winning enough.

“Yeah, I may have heard some rumblings,” Annie admitted, tracing the pattern of a flower on her dress. “But nothing will be set in stone for at least a month. And in the meantime I thought I’d go on an adventure,” she said, lifting her head to smile at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone starting with J who’s just finished teaching summer school and may have some time up their sleeves to join me would you?”

“I think I have someone in mind to match your oddly specific request,” Jeff grinned, jerking his thumb back towards the campus. “June Bauer’s back from her teaching suspension and was looking for someone new to shoot with a blow dart.”

Annie whacked him on the arm, snorting out a laugh. “Can you imagine if I turned up in LA with Professor Bauer in tow? Abed would be pitching a Netflix series featuring the two of us before I’d even stepped out the car.”

“Six seasons and a movie,” Jeff replied. “Y’know if we time our road trip right we could be in LA around the same time as Shirley. She was talking about flying over with her boys to take them to Disneyland.”

“Yes, that would be amazing!” Annie gasped. “I’m going to totally make you wear Mickey Mouse ears.”

Jeff glared at her. “I would rather peel off my own skin and eat it, then regurgitate it and eat it again. But hey, don’t let me stop you from living out your dreams.”

“First of all, you’re disgusting,” Annie replied, rolling her eyes at Jeff’s little bow. “And second of all do you know what every road trip needs?”

“A playlist with ‘Life Is A Highway’ on infinite loop?”

“No, a highly sophisticated, written-out plan in a road trip binder.” Annie’s eyes lit up with mischief. “Besides, you owe me an outing to Stationery World.”

Jeff leaned against the bench, resting his arm along the back behind Annie. “On what grounds you honor?”

She jabbed her finger into Jeff’s chest. “On the grounds that I can see a super deluxe gel-tron 200 pen sticking out of your shirt pocket, you sly bastard! How dare you visit my favorite place behind my back?” she mocked.

“Guilty,” Jeff grinned. “Oh, and I also have to grade a bunch of exams before we go but maybe I’ll just give everyone a C and call it a day.” He burst into laughter at Annie’s look of horror. “Kidding, I’m kidding. Mostly. Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “We’ve got a lot of crap to do before we go so let’s get started.”

Annie nodded, slipping her hand into his to allow him to pull her upright. “Don’t worry, we’ve got this,” she said with determination.

“Yeah,” Jeff said, looking back at her with a crooked grin. “We do.”


End file.
